Coeur de Pirate & Bedouin Soundclash - Brutal Hearts

i put a spell on you - SCREAMIN' JAY HAWKINS

Buena Vista Social Club - Chan Chan

Edith Piaf - Milord

Good stuff.

J-Roddy Walston and the Business.

Jerry Lee Lewis meets Drive by truckers meets the White stripes.

LOVE.

http://www.myspace.com/jroddy

We No Speak Americano ft. Cleary & Harding

a little break.

Yes, 'tis true. I have been MIA for almost a month now. geez. long time. Anywho, i am slowly becoming acquainted with my new city, Louisville, KY. And getting more and more excited/nervous by the day about my grad. classes starting. Should be pretty exciting.
My boy is coming up today to see me and boy, oh boy, I CAN'T WAIT.

My apartment is great. It is a work in progress but coming along quite nicely. Lily LOVES my huge bay windows that look over 4th street. She lays in the windowsill all day long just watching and sleeping in the sun. Cute little kitty.

I almost died today as I was exploring new ways to get to the TJ Maxx I was so desperately needing to find for some retail therapy. I-65 hates me. And I probably equally loathe it. Hopefully we will come to terms soon.

I finally found the gym, which was another desperate need of mine. I had not worked out in almost 3 weeks and FINALLY, yesterday, I found one of the campus gyms that was almost completely empty. sweetness.

I am still waiting for my internet to be hooked up at my place. Starbucks has become my recent bestie in a need for free wifi, which it unselfishly supplies me with.

As soon as the internet is available, the blogging will continue on a more regular basis. And there will be pictures uploaded, etc.

Until then... jd.

Louise de Vilmorin and Poulenc

Started a new set of french artsongs by Poulenc a few weeks back. The set is entitled "Metamorphose" or Metamorphosis. The poets name is Louise de Vilmorin and this set of poems is VERY abstract. She was a early 20th century French poet. I am having a hard time getting a meaning and character out of all of these pieces. And then tying it back into the original title of the set, (Metamorphose). Any thoughts?

Queen of the Seagulls
Queen of the seagulls, my orphan,
I have seen you pink, I remember it,
under the misty muslins
of your bygone mourning

Pink that you liked the kiss which vexes you,
you surrendered to my hands
under the misty muslins
veils of our bond.

Blush, blush, my kiss divines you
seagull captured at the meeting of the
great highways.

Queen of the seagulls, my orphan,
you were pink surrendered to my hands
pink under the muslins
and I remember it.

It is thus that you are
Your body imbued with soul,
your tangled hair,
your foot pursuing time,
your shadow which stretches
and whispers close to my temples.
There, that is your portrait,
it is thus that you are,
and I want to write it to you
sot hat when night comes,
you may believe and say,
that I knew you well.

Paganini
Violin sea-horse and siren
cradle of hearts heart and cradle
tears of Mary Magdalen
sigh of a queen
echo

Violin pride of agile hands
departure on horseback on the water
love astride mystery
thief of prayer
bird

violin morganatic woman
puss-in-boots ranging the forest
well of insane truths
public confession
corset

violin alcohol of the troubled soul
preference muscle of the evening
shoulder of sudden seasons
leaf of the oak
mirror

violin knight of silence
plaything escaped from happiness
bosom of a thousand presences
boat of pleasure
hunter.

Wedding. Pitchfork. Weekend.

The weekend was full of crazy adventures for me.
Starting the weekend a wee bit early, last Wednesday night the craziness started with adventures in Nashville for the bachelorette party of the one and only Samantha Walters (now Samantha Veal). Pictures to come soon.

Followed by the rehearsal dinner Friday night in Paducah with tons of lovely friends including my bestie Nicole Casteel! After 5 years of friendship and a lifetime of singing, we finally had the opportunity to sing together- we sang the Flower Duet (the "Lakme" duet) while the bridal party strutted their stuff down the aisle.

Saturday, I had a lovely day in Paducah with 2 dear friends before the wedding. Lunch, shopping, getting a wee bit angry at mean bridal boutique workers, singing, etc.Then wedding time Saturday evening! One of the most beautiful weddings I have been to AND had the opportunity to be a part of!

Following wedding and short appearance at the reception, me and the boy started our journey to Chicago, (yes we drove). Whew. Stayed in a Super 8 on the way and woke up early Sunday morning to finish our journey.

Sunday was the day of music at Union Park in Chicago, IL to see tons of great music, including PAVEMENT. Their first live appearance since 1999 and holy cow was it worth it. GREAT show. This day also included a fantastic lunch at the Billy Goat Tavern in Chicago. Quaint little place with GREAT burgers. :)

Monday was Michigan avenue day. Started the day with some nice caffeinated beverages from Intelligentsia, moved on to lots of wonderful shopping, and ended at Giordanno's Chicago pizza place. SO GOOD.

My crazy weekend ended with my arrival back to my 2 lonely pets (who were graciously watched after by my neighbor all weekend), at 11pm last night. Sleep Sleep Sleep.

Now back to work- only 2 weeks left of the real world and then back to school it is. Seems weird. I enjoy fighting change.

PICTURES OF ALL ADVENTURES TO COME SOON.

Oh, Phillip.

OH, MINIMALISM- HOW I LOVE THEE.

Obsessing over Phillip Glass this morning. While obsessing, I sent the boy an e-mail ranting about my nonsensical interests. I read back over it. And now I think I'll share it. Because it made me giggle how ridiculous I can be at times.

********************************************

Hi. I know you may find this totally uninteresting. -BUT-

I have been obsessing over and reading about 20th century minimalistic opera since I arrived at work.

I know I know. B-O-R-I-N-G. Again -BUT-

You are my bestest friend. And I have to share my boring, slightly strange obsessions with someone.

You have been chosen.

The following link leads you to a page listing ALL of Phillip Glass's operas that have been composed to date. (Time to get excited)

http://www.philipglass.com/music/compositions/category/index_compositions_opera.php

Numero Uno: I had NO idea he wrote so many operas.
Numero Dos: Just click on them and read the plots to some of these baby's. Whew.
Numero Tres: I want... no no... I will... one day be in a Phillip Glass opera. (Mark my words)

Reading through these synopsis (plural-eh?) makes me think of film. If Phillip Glass were a film writer/director, I believe he would be a mix of the efforts of Pedro Almodovar (Bad Education, Volver, etc), Alfred Hitchcock, and dare I say Tim Burton? (Eh- perhaps not).

Thank you for your love and tolerance of this nonsense.

Buddy

Holiday World.

I had a traveling adventure on this wonderful July weekend. Me and the boy woke up at 5:45, drove to my Mom's house to meet her and my little brother and sister, and we drove 3 hours to the coolest, sweetest theme park I have ever been to. HOLIDAY WORLD. It's in Santa Clause, IN, (I know, cheesy right?) And the Park is full of different sections, divided up by Holiday. There is Halloween, Thanksgiving, 4th of July, and of course Christmas! The liberty launch was a favorite in the 4th of July section, Raging Rapids and the Raven in the Halloween section, and the Pilgrims Plunge and the Voyage both in the Thanksgiving section. I didn't experience any Christmas rides but I'll tell you, the lunch in the Kris Kringle cafe was pretty delicious and cheap!

The grandest part about this park is the water park. Splashin' Safari water park is by far the best water park I have been to. They have SO MANY rides and wave pools and lazy rivers and the whole nine yards. This year they had a new ride as well, called the Wildebeast. It's a "Water roller coaster" and let me just tell you, it lives up to it's name. GREAT. We spent about half the day here and about half the day in the actual theme park and it was just perfect. Staying from 9:15am to 7:30pm definitely took a toll on us though. The man and I had to switch up the return drive so we wouldn't die from driving after such an exhausting day.
SPLASHIN' SAFARI WATER PARK.

THE VOYAGE.

THE RAVEN.

RAGING RAPIDS.

PILGRIMS PLUNGE.

LIBERTY LAUNCH.

Instrumental desires.

Alright, as all of you know, I am obsessed with learning multiple instruments. My last ridiculously obsessive post was about the accordian, (which I am still quite obsessed with but still don't have the funds to purchase. BLAST). The lastest obession is the autoharp, which from what I understand, is much easier and cheaper.

The origination of the new obsession is in the hands of Cat Power. She covers and old 50's R&B tune called "Sea of Love" with only her and an autoharp and it really is quite beautiful.

My constant search for instrumetns comes from one desire: to be able to write songs and accompany myself singing. Because singing is what I am best at. And my one true love. I guess my laziness keeps leading me to more and more instruments simply because I want an instrument that I can learn quickly and one that I can make sound good. I believe the Autoharp might be the next big thing for me. But alas,the accordian is still lurking in the back of my mind. One day... Someday... I shall be the owner of all instruments I desire.

The Addam's Family.

As I child, the Addam's family was my favorite TV show and the movies were watched on a weekly basis. Yes, I was sort of a weird kid. I own the movies today and still watch them regularly and never get tired of them. (There will never be a better Mortisha than Angelica Houston.) Recently, broadway released the Addam's family musical with Nathan Lane as Gomez and I can't even imagine how amazing that must be. This all being said, the Addam's Family has become a huge deal and has been shared with many through multiple mediums/media including TV, film and now theatre. Do you know how the Addam's family originated though? All this jabbering is due to my discovery of the origination. Cartoons. Charles Addam's was the originator of the Addam's family and it's creation is dated back to 1938. Can you believe that? The cartoons started running in the New Yorker in 1938 when famous American cartoonist, Charles Addam's, created the not so normal, gothic family. It amazes me that the looney family has lasted for so long, dating back almost 75 years into pre-WWII era. This is my dedication and my effort at educating all of you Addam's family lovers out there. Enjoy!

Inspirations as of late.

MY HEALTH. It's never too late to take care of your body. Eat good things. Exercise. And LOVE your body.





ANTHROPOLOGIE. If I'm ever feeling uninspired as far as fashion goes, Anthropologie never fails to reinspire. They always have something new on their sight and their catalogues are equally as rad. Always worth a look.
www.anthropologie.com

PEGGY SUE. I went to Lexington last weekend for a show with the boy and ended up going by their local record shop, (which is pretty much amazing, by the way). While the boy was slowly searching through every LP, 7-inch and cassette tape in there, I was at the listening station, discovering some new tunes. Peggy Sue was my best discovery. 2 girls with a ton of random instruments. Haunting harmonies throughout it all. Something I read described them as "gothic folk" I would say that is a fairly accurate description. Look it up. It's worth it.



That's all for now. Perhaps some new inspiration will come my way as the week comes to an end.

Free bunny.

I have a pet bunny that desperately needs a good home. I cannot take him to graduate school with me because of apartment limitations, (most apartments don't allow rabbits- or anything except cat's for that matter). He is the cutest, sweetest thing. Short, dark gray hair with upright ears. Only 5 months old. I will give him to anyone interested as long as you give him a good home. He is litter trained to go in his cage as long as you have litter in there. He is fairly tame and usually just runs around my apartment. Please let me know if you live close to Murray, KY and are interested!

new website discovery

www.shopplasticland.com

This site has lots of cool home decor stuff including some pretty sweet art prints. They also sell clothing, shoes, jewelry, etc. Pretty nifty litte web space.

ideas.

I am moving. In a month and a half.

Alright, now that I have the scary job of admitting how soon the move is over with, I can start thinking of ideas. color schemes. furniture placement. I have an apartment in mind righ now that I am desperately trying to pay a deposit on so it can be mine and all mine. Hardwood floors. high ceilings. white walls. big window. black and white tile bathroom. BIG kitchen with pantry. balcony. It's just grand.

With all above things in mind, I have been turning my wheels about color schemes for each room. Thoughts so far:

Living Room: light tans, browns, and white. I want it to be a clean space with the wood floors showing through as the main color.

Bedroom: White, amber, and yellow. My bed will be all white with yellow and amber accent pillows. I have a beautiful amber glass hanging lamp that will hang from ceiling. Looking for more ideas here.

Kitchen: Yellow walls- accent colors I am thinking of either red or turquoisey blues.

Bathroom: black and white tile, yellow walls, turquoise/blue will be accent colors.

Hallway: keeping all pictures on walls black and white, (I have an abundance of black and white framed stuff so this should work out well).

Favorite parts of this place:
*old radiators still there in living room and bedroom. Thinking about making these in to plant stands since they are both near the window.
*Blueish glass sliding doors in shower.
*Black and white tile in bathroom.

Now, let's just hope this place will be mine by tomorrow. :)

new apartment obsession.

Alright, so, as I have recently discovered, moving to a city where you do not live and searching for an apartment in that city is not an exciting experience. It is just stressful. That is all there is to it. However, in my effort to be a little less stressed and a bit more excited I have been therapizing.

www.apartmenttherapy.com is my interior decorating lover. You can pick from many big US cities and look through houses that have been chosen by the creators of the website. Here are some of my favorites from San Francisco.

Weekly peddler.

Every Friday, after a week of working, I treat myself to some thrift/flea market/yard sale/etc. goodness. Today, the winners were the local Goodwill and Peddlers Mall, (the most amazing flea market in the are). I came upon some good things I wanted to share.

It was a hot day today. I was in desperate need of a cool beverage after my Goodwill extravaganza. At this point, I was planning on returning home to make some delicious crystal light raspberry lemonade when I remembered that my one and only pitcher for making drinks broke! Total crisis. Soooo... this is what originally gave me the excuse to go to Peddlers Mall. For a pitcher. And I found a pretty darn good one if I may say so myself. I'm a sucker for old mason jars and I had never seen an actual pitcher mason jar. Oh, Peddlers mall, how you never cease to amaze a girl. Only $3.50 for this adorable little thing.


Now, at first glance, I wasn't sold on these... However, the more I looked at those darling little owls, the more convinced I was that I needed 2 more mugs to add to my ridiculously large mug collection. What can I say? I drink a ridiculous amount of hot tea.


The Goodwill PJ section was a hit today. I absolutely love finding old, beautiful nightgowns/slips/etc. At the goodwill today, I ran into this vintage Gloria Vanderbilt lacey nightgown. I haven't decided whether this is actually going to be worn as a nightgown or perhaps as a dress belted with a slip underneath, (as the top is entirely see-through lace, as you can see). My favorite part of this one is the tiny little satin stitched flower/paisley sewn into the lace top. Cute Cute Cute.


At first glance, this was very old lady. At second glance, I was thinking, "hmmm, kinda classy". And at third glance, I was sold. At only $2.00, I am convinced that this will be a lovely edition to my bathroom for nailpolishes and random toiletries. OR it very well might be my new and improved tights storage unit. I kind of have this other addiction that goes along with the mugs... yep... tights.


Coming in as my last purchase was another owl. Isn't this the cutest little thing? Now to figure out where to put it. Hmmm.

Movie.

Have you seen Harold and Maude? If not, stop everything, get in car, drive to movie store, rent, watch. One of my all-time favorites. I have never heard of anyone not liking this one. Enjoy.